How do movie royalties (residuals) work over the long term?
Take a relatively old movie – the Dirty Dozen – that plays on TV fairly frequently.
That movie had 8–10 big-name actors, and then a bunch of lesser known ones. Of course, they all got paid when the movie was first made. But what about now? Does Ernest Borgnine’s estate get paid some amount every time that the movie plays on TNT? What about the lesser actors?
I’m sure more recent movies compensate better – but take Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in Mr. and Mrs. Smith – that still plays from time to time on HBO. Do they get paid each time? And for how long?
Observing members:
0
Composing members:
0
2 Answers
That’s all built into the contracts at the time the movie is made. Some actors take a bigger up front amount, others will take union scale for the acting and then a percentage of the gross, or maybe a balance between Salary and profit from distribution after theaters (HBO, DVD, etc.).
TV showing of movies made before the 1960s were because it was cheap content, only a fee to the studio, and a lot of movies from the ‘30s were in public domain by the late ‘60s. Actors didn’t get residuals from movies shown on TV, and most still don’t.
TV contracts from the mid ‘50s on, for a star, have had residuals built in. But some phase out after the third or fourth showing. That’s why “I Love Lucy” has been on constant play for over 50 years; it costs hardly anything to run.
I’m sure it varies. My cousin married the grandson of Robert Wise, the director of The Sound of Music and West Side Story. After he and his son died, my cousin’s husband would get quarterly royalty checks which, even for 50+ year old films, was more than enough for them to comfortably live on in San Diego (and later LA) without either of them having to work. They paid for us to come visit them on more than one occasion before my cousin died.
Answer this question 
This question is in the General Section. Responses must be helpful and on-topic.
Composing members:
0
